A former employee of a California public school district was given more than five years in jail on Thursday after it was discovered that he stole nearly $16.7 million from the district over the years by hiding large amounts of cash in a small refrigerator.
Jorge Armando Contreras, 53, was found guilty Thursday in Santa Ana court. He used to be the senior director of fiscal services at the Magnolia School system, which is a public school system that serves Anaheim and Stanton.
In a news statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that he was given a 70-month federal prison sentence and told to pay back $16,694,942.
In March, he admitted to one count of theft, embezzlement, and intentional misapplication of federally funded group funds.
Prosecutors said Contreras was hired in 2006 and was in charge of the district’s finances. They said that 81% of students in preschool through sixth grade are considered to be socioeconomically poor.
He should have used the money he was in charge of to help the schools, but instead he lived a fancy life by buying Louis Vuitton bags, a fancy car, and a house with the money.
Because of his job, he had access to bank accounts for the school district and the student body. He “caused checks from these accounts to be deposited into his personal bank account,” the news release said.
He used small checks with the words “M S D” spaced out before the amount of money on them as part of his plan. After getting other people’s signatures on paper, he would fill in the blanks with made-up names, make the checks bigger, and use ATMs to put the money into his own bank account. He gave others in the school district bank reconciliation packets that had fake bank accounts and records in them to hide the theft.
Authorities say he stole a total of $16,694,942 from the district.
He was put on business leave in August 2023. The district then took the case to Orange Count Superior Court.
The fraudster was caught and about $7.7 million worth of personal and real property was taken away by police. This included a house in Yorba Linda, a 2021 BMW, 57 luxury designer bags (mostly Louis Vuitton), jewelry, designer clothes and shoes, and eight bottles of Clase Azul Ultra tequila.
A small fridge and a bunch of Louis Vuitton purses were both photographed by the prosecutor’s office with lots of cash inside them.
NBC News has asked Contreras’ lawyer for a response.
The FBI, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Education all looked into the case.
